The Blight of Hindustan, Do you have to be Jewish to report on Israel for the New York Times?

The Blight of Hindustan By Namit Arora - The Indian constitution outlawed caste discrimination sixty years ago, and affirmative action has had a salutary impact in recent decades. However, in this deeply conservative country, passing legislation is one thing, enforcing the laws and changing minds is quite another. Caste still has a tenacious hold on too many Indians who, in the words of the Marathi poet Govindaraj, ‘bow their heads to the kicks from above and who simultaneously give a kick below, never thinking to resist the one or refrain from the other.’

But one cannot help doubting ATS’s intention and attitude in this case. As Shabnam Hashmi, Member, National Integration Council, MHA, said in her statement: “The Pune blast has all the hallmarks of a Hindutva attack, down to the ammonium nitrate used as the explosive. This is all the more likely since it comes in the wake of the Shahid Azmi murder and Shiv Sena's defeat on the SRK film episode. Yet this will never be revealed so long as the investigation is being handled by the Maharashtra ATS headed by Raghuvanshi. (1) Abhinav Bharat (which is, after all, headquartered in Pune) should be considered a suspect; and (2) that pressure should be put on the government of Maharashtra to remove Raghuvanshi from the post of ATS chief on the grounds that (a) he mishandled the Nanded and 2006 Malgaon blasts (which is why he was replaced by Karkare in the first place, and (b) he is a close associate of Lt.Col.Purohit, a suspect not only in the Malegaon 2008 blasts but also in the Samjhauta Express and various other terrorist attacks.”

Gore Vidal:He has been called an iconoclast, a provocateur, a misanthrope, and a conspiracy theorist (“I’m a conspiracy analyst,” he corrects). And now, with his acceptance last spring of the American Humanist Association’s honorary presidency, the acclaimed writer and critic Gore Vidal can add “humanist” to the mix. On August 4, 2009, Humanist Editor Jennifer Bardi and AHA President David Niose sat down with Vidal at his home in Hollywood, California, for a lengthy conversation. Many of the familiar topics were discussed—his famous family, forays into politics and the film industry, brushes with fellow writers and public figures, his admiration for Amelia Earhart and his disgust with U.S. foreign policy—peppered with spot-on impersonations of John F. Kennedy, Greta Garbo, and George W. Bush. Something else that emerged is the unapologetic humanism of this acclaimed novelist, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and esteemed public intellectual. Vidal, now in his eighty-fourth year, continues to entertain, enrage, and enlighten. His latest book, Gore Vidal: Snapshots in History’s Glare, was published in October.